How Long Were Biblical Manuscripts in Use?

I speculated that if the Gospel of Matthew were published and
circulated in 75 CE and if it and some of the first copies of it were in use as long as the manuscripts in the collections and
libraries studied by Houston were in use, then some of these manuscripts could still have been in circulation, being read, studied,
and copied, as late as the end of the second century and perhaps even on into the third century. This means that New Testament
autographs and first copies could still have been available when our oldest extant papyri manuscripts (e.g., P45,
P46, P66) were produced. If still in circulation and being read and copied, the autographs and first copies
would have continued to give shape to the text. In a sense, then, the gap between autograph and extant manuscript is bridged.

In 2010, I purchased and read as many books on papyrology, textual criticism, and ancient literacy and education as I could lay my
hands on. Along the way I picked up William A. Johnson and Holt N. Parker (eds.), Ancient Literacies: The Culture of Reading in
Greece and Rome (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2009). The whole book is informative and a delight to read. What I
found most intriguing was the chapter by George Houston, Papyrological Evidence for Book Collections and Libraries in the Roman
Empire (pp. 23367). Houston reviews some fifty collections and libraries (mostly) from the second century BCE to the third
century CE. These were libraries and collections that were thrown out intact and centuries later recovered more or less intact. In
addition to literary works were dated correspondence, notes, and commentaries that have made it possible in many cases to determine
when manuscripts were copied and how long they were in use before being replaced or discarded. Houston finds that literary manuscripts
were in use anywhere from 150 to 500 years, with the average usually 200 to 300 years (pp. 24851).

I made use of Houstons findings in public lectures that I gave in Birmingham, Alabama, in October of 2010 and in New Orleans,
Louisiana, in February 2011. In preparation for the latter, I sent my printed lecture in early February to six biblical scholars, five
of whom are New Testament textual critics. Two of the latter (Larry Hurtado and Daniel Wallace) kindly wrote back and made helpful
comments. In New Orleans, I presented the lecture at the annual Greer-Heard conference hosted by the New Orleans Baptist Theological
Seminary (February 2526). Bart Ehrman and I were the keynote speakers. We presented opposing views on a theme centered on the
question, Can We Trust What the New Testament Says about Jesus? Other speakers included Craig Keener, Dale Martin, and Ben
Witherington.

One of the points in my lecture concerned George Houstons observation about the longevity of manuscripts, that is, how long they
were used before being discarded. I wondered what implications his observation might have for New Testament manuscripts. I speculated
that if the Gospel of Matthew were published and circulated in 75 CE and if it and some of the first copies of it were in use as long
as the manuscripts in the collections and libraries studied by Houston were in use, then some of these manuscripts could still have
been in circulation, being read, studied, and copied, as late as the end of the second century and perhaps even on into the third
century. This means that New Testament autographs and first copies could still have been available when our oldest extant papyri
manuscripts (e.g., P45, P46, P66) were produced. If still in circulation and being read and
copied, the autographs and first copies would have continued to give shape to the text. In a sense, then, the gap between autograph
and extant manuscript is bridged.

Since circulating and presenting my lecture, I have noticed this point being discussed on a few blogs. In a note posted on his blog
March 31, 2011 (also posted by Ben Witheringon June 2 on his blog), Larry Hurtado supportively comments: If early copies were
intact for something approaching a century or more, then this could be a factor against notions that these texts were highly unstable
and susceptible to major revision in the course of transmission. This was precisely my point, and I am greatly encouraged that a
textual critic of Hurtados stature agrees. The only slip is that in reference to Houstons study, Hurtado adds, as
he [Houston] notes, the evidence from Qumran leads to a similar view. Actually, the references to the Dead Sea scrolls come from
my paper. (Houston does not discuss religious libraries.) But the point nonetheless is correct. If I may quote myself: Most of
the scrolls were one hundred to one hundred-fifty years old when the community ceased to exist. However, approximately 40 scrolls,
many of them Bible scrolls, were 200 to 300 years oldand evidently still in usewhen the community was destroyed. The
same holds in the case of a number of Christian Bibles. Fourth-century Codex Vaticanus was re-inked in the tenth century, which shows
that it was still being read and studied some six hundred years after it had been produced. Codex Sinaiticus was corrected in the
sixth or seventh century. Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus, produced in the fifth century, was in use four or five centuries before being
overwritten in the twelfth century. Retired and discarded mss were not corrected: only those still in use.

I might add that the papyrological evidence assessed by Houston lends a degree of plausibility to Tertullians claim that in his
time (early third century) some of the authenticwritings (autographs?) of Paul were still available for examination
(Prescription Against Heretics 36). Of course, we are not sure if Tertullian is referring to autographs or to complete and
unmutilated (Greek) copies of the apostles letters. (On this passage in Tertullian and its possible significance I refer readers
to Darrell Bock and Daniel Wallace, Dethroning Jesus [Thomas Nelson, 2007] 4546.)

Another point I make in my paper is that in addition to the autographs, back-up copies were made before the autographs were
circulated. This is obviously the case in letters, for we have substantial evidence from both the correspondence found in the papyri
and in literary sources (e.g., where Cicero refers to copies of his letters). It is highly probable that copies of the Gospels
and other New Testament writings were also made before the originals were circulated. I also noted in my lecture that we
find multiple copies of major sectarian documents at Qumran, such as the Damascus Covenant, the Community Rule, and the
halakic letter known as MMT (Miqsat Maeseh ha-Torah, Some of the Works of the Law; because we found six
copies of the latter, we have been able to reconstruct most of the text). The existence of multiple original copies would only improve
the odds of some originals/autographs surviving to the end of the second century and beyond.

Many of the manuscripts considered by Houston give evidence of being carefully studied. The texts are glossed and corrected and
sometimes are accompanied with exegetical notes. There is evidence that readers compared duplicate texts and engaged in what we today
call textual criticism. We should assume that sometimes early Christians did the same with their sacred texts. It is likely that few
texts were sloppily copied or freely revised, abridged, or expanded. And it is not likely that texts that were poorly copied or
mutilated would have been preserved and seen as competitive, at least not in mainstream Christian circles. The evidence that Houston
has uncovered militates against this kind of textual carelessness and lack of discrimination. Indeed, second- and third-century church
leaders readily identify texts that had been altered, charging that these alterations were at the hands of heretics or groups whose
teachings differed substantially from the early, apostolic church.

There is another implication that might arise from Houstons study. I did not pursue it in my public lecture because it was not
immediately relevant to the topic of the New Orleans conference. What I propose is that the New Testament canon of writings be viewed
more as a library or collection. Many of the libraries and collections that Houston studied were assembled either by families or by
groups of literate friends with common reading interests. Members of these groups met together from time to time to read and study.
They acquired manuscripts, sometimes multiple copies, compared and discussed texts, and made notes, which in some instances
approximate what we today would regard as commentary. I should think that some of these activities were very much those of early
Christian groups that collected the founding documents of the Christian faith. In short, some of the dynamics behind the collecting,
reading, and studying of the literary collections studied by Houston might be very close to the dynamics behind the collecting,
reading, and studying of sacred texts by early Christian groups.

We all know that understanding the Bible as a book is a late development, reflecting the emergence and recognition of the
canon of Scripture. But I wonder if we have given sufficient thought to the first two or three centuries of early Christian writings
as libraries and collections, for purposes of study, public reading (in worship settings), private study, evangelism, and apologetics.
In my view, I think that in the light of Houstons study we should rethink the process that led to the recognition of a canon of
Scripture.

A more informed and nuanced understanding of the origin of what in time emerged as the Christian canon of Scripture will be helpful, I
suggest, in responding to the misleading and simplistic assertions and insinuations found, for example, in Bart Ehrmans latest
attack on naïve fundamentalism, Forged: Writing in the Name of God Why the Bibles Authors Are Not Who We Think
They Are (HarperOne, 2011).

The full text of my New Orleans lecture will be published as Can We Trust what the New Testament says about the Historical
Jesus? in a book, perhaps with a similar title, edited by Robert B. Stewart. I also plan to expand the lecture into a small
book. I invite comments and questions.

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Comments (7)

Can we really assume that the autographs would be available on a wide enough geographical scale to have a significant affect on transmission? This is further complicated when we try to determine the nature of the scriptural copyists in the second century. Were they a well-disciplined group of professionals or a mixed lot of literate Christians?

I suppose it is interesting but I would be reluctant to hang too much on this particular bit of conjecture. It seems to make Mr Evan's pretty happy, though.

#1 - Scott F - 06/21/2011 - 17:58

I would urge extreme caution in the use of Houston's claims as established fact. E.g. he is fond of saying a literary papyrus was found "intermingled" with dated documents (p.248 and n. 46) when the excavation was more like a salvage dig. Documents found with literary texts form little more than a loose association with each other, esp. when the site is known to have been a dump. He could support his case the that these literary texts (his no.4, 249) are datable by documentary finds by analyzing all of the dated documents in the "layer" - and, moreover, explain how the parameters of each layer are distinguished from each other. At Karanis, trash was dumped in vacant houses. Often, a second house was built on top of the first. Now, if the second house has datable documents, pottery, coins etc., this establishes a terminus ante quem for the dump below. Absent this, it is hard to see how layers of a dump can be convincingly proven. A dump excavated with modern methods, of course can be dealt with much more precisely (see Bingen's treament of the dump at Mons Claudianus (Jean Bingen, 'Dumping of Ostraca at Mons Claudianus.' In D.M. Bailey, Archaeological Research in Roman Egypt. The Proceedings of the Seventeenth Classical Colloquium of the Department of Greek an Roman Antiquities, British Museum, held on 1-4 December, 1993 (Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplement 19) 1996, 29-38.).

At Roman- LAter Roman Karanis, e.g. one normally finds literary texts with dates that suit the datable documents cons etc. in the house (e.g.) where they were found, and in insula of the town as well. Occasionally, one finds a literary texts paleographically datable two hundred years or more before it's context would indicate. (Schwendner, in Porceedgins of the Helsinki Papyrological Congress, Helsinki, 2004 (Helsinki 2007), p. 997, Homeric Lexicon by Apollonius Sophista, and p. 1003 no. 1a). There are also extraordinary cases of long survival of literary papyri in documentary archives, such as Apion's and Diosorus of Aphrodite. So the thesis that papyrus mss. could survive a century or two even is perfectly supportable, but one must bear in mind such cases were not the norm, which is that texts were discard within a generation or two.

I am, however, fully in agreement with feeling that Ehrman's misuse of evidence needs to be opposed. I am not myself a believer, but his views of the unreliability of the Greek New Testament esp. are so preposterously hyperbolic it makes one want to stand up and shout. An instructive parallel might be the split between most Homerist, who differentiate between a stable vulgate tradition c. 150, and others who argue that the oral tradition negates any possibility of such stability. In the New testament, by contrast, one sees nothing of the kind: there is a textually stable tradition in the third and fourth centuries (with a few obvious unfixed parts of the tradition, such as in Phoebe's recommendation in Romans). Before that, we have only snatches and glimpses, but nothing to indicate the sort of wild tradition we find in Ptolemaic papyri of Homer.

Anyway, i fear i test your patience with such a long comment from an obscure scholar laboring in richly deserved obscurity.
Gregg

#2 - Gregg Schwendner - 06/22/2011 - 03:06

If every copy had an average of 10 copes made, then within 3 generations of copying there would be 1000 copies. Even if the original still existed, its not clear what effect that would make being 1 in 1000 copies. And its no good if the original or first generation copies exist, unless the people owning them know and promote their originality as a mechanism for effecting the transmission. Since no church fathers seem to clearly refer to them, it seems questionable. If they had really been widely known when Tertullian supposedly commented on them, one would have thought that they would have been kept precious since that time so that they would have survived to even later centuries, or else someone surely would have commented on their ultimate demise. It seems noteworthy that not one of the books is specifically mentioned as existing in original form at a particular location, nor its demise ever commented on. It seems easier to believe that the location of the originals was already forgotten, and Tertullian wasn't referring to originals.

#3 - jim - 06/24/2011 - 00:18

[The following comment was first posted on the Evangelical Textual Criticism blog]:

The "Pamphilian corrector" and his colophons in Codex Sinaiticus seem germane to this discussion -- although the dating is much later than the period of interest in Evans' article. The "Pamphilian corrector" (or cpamph) supposedly corrected the text of 2 Esdras and Esther in Codex Sinaiticus against "an extremely old copy," an "ancient book." We learn this from the Pamphilian corrector's colophons. He brings over into Sinaiticus the colophons from his exemplar (the "extremely old copy") which contain Pamphilus' signature. Pamphilus claims that his MS was "copied from and corrected against the Hexapla of Origen." Interestingly, Jerome says that Pamphilus' copies of Origen "may be found this day in the library at Caesarea."

The question is how "ancient" or "extremely old" was the MS used by the Pamphilian corrector. If the "extremely old copy” was the original MS purportedly "copied from and corrected against the Hexapla” by Pamphilus (who was martyred in 309 CE), then it could be anywhere from 75-100 years old, depending on the date of the Pamphilian corrections in Sinaiticus. It is possible that the Pamphilian corrector was using a copy of a copy of Pamphilus' MS. But if this was the case, then why describe the MS as "ancient" and "extremely old"? It is quite possible that this “extremely old copy” was nearly one hundred (100) years old, especially if we assume that it was produced around the turn of the fourth century and that the Pamphilian corrections were made sometime near the turn of the fifth century. In any case, if we take at face value Jerome’s statement that Pamphilus’ original copies of the Hexapla were kept at the library at Caesarea, then it would square nicely with Evans’ idea of Christian texts as “library” or “collections” which were preserved and consulted by early Christian groups. Although this example is later and pertains to the LXX, it still seems relevant vis-a-vis the age of MSS and the fact that Codex Sinaiticus is a Christian production.

#4 - Brice C. Jones - 06/25/2011 - 00:20

By bridging the gap between autograph and extant manuscripts you strengthen the possibility that, even now, we can study inspired (God breathed) words. According to II Peter 3:16, Paul's epistles are considered scripture. According to II Timothy 3:16, all scripture is given by inspiration of God. Thank you for helping to show that, by using texts that were highly stable, the King James translators have made it possible for God to speak to us today through these scriptures.

#5 - A B Chrysler - 07/01/2011 - 03:44

Discovery of the original manuscript, for example, of the Gospel according to Matthew no more proves that what is recorded as said and done by Jesus is factual anymore than finding an original copy of Parson Weems' biography of George Washington proves that little George cut down a cherry tree.

#6 - Tim Solon - 07/11/2011 - 06:07

One of the things that is obvious is that corrections were made at various time and in various places to the Greek new Testament. If one is forced to make corrections the text of copies the available manuscripts at the time, then it stands to reason that access to the 'correct text' must have been a reality. If not, then what do we make the correction against?

#7 - Al Johnson - 08/17/2016 - 21:59

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